Former Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag claimed Cristiano Ronaldo let him and the team down.
Ronaldo fell out with the Dutch manager during his second spell at Manchester United before moving to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr.
“He let the team down, and he let me down, because we planned with him,” Ten Hag told The Athletic.
“I flew out to Portugal to speak with him about what I was aiming for before I came to United.
“Obviously, he’s one of the best in football history. I respected him a lot. But at that time, as a manager, I had to make a rational decision and keep the players I admire in.”
Ten Hag dropped Roanldo from the squad that faced Chelsea in October 2022 after the Portuguese refused to come on as a substitute against Tottenham Hotspur three days earlier.
Ronaldo in an interview in November said he was betrayed by Manchester United and put the blame on Ten Hag for his controversial exit from United.
“It’s the wrong idea to put this to me that I expected him to do the pressing, that he’s exhausted,” added Ten Hag. “But he couldn’t. He ran neither in possession nor out of possession. The reason was because he didn’t prepare himself.
“Every top team has to embrace the top player, but the top player has to work for the team.
“He was telling the players, ‘save your legs at the training’. I understand it when you are top fit – you have sessions you can save the legs. But first you have to train yourself to get into the right fitness levels.”
Ronaldo was 36 when he returned to Manchester United from Juventus in 2021, with Ole Gunnar Solskjær as manager. Under Erik ten Hag he scored just three goals in 16 appearances before leaving during the 2022-23 season.
The publication of Ten Hag’s interview comes as Ronaldo has been given a 30-day suspension and fined €255 (£215) by the Portuguese Football Federation for leaving his country’s international camp last month.
Ten Hag was sacked by United in October 2024, having won the Carabao Cup in 2023 and the FA Cup in 2024. Of his time at Old Trafford, he added that he wanted to sign Frenkie de Jong, Harry Kane and Declan Rice, and that he was against selling Scott McTominay to Napoli in August 2024.
“I said for the first season, ‘centre-half, there’s a problem, centre-midfield, there is a problem, and especially I need a strategist, then we need goals’. And that was the biggest issue in all my three years: goals,” said Ten Hag.
